First Class Reflections

With much anticipation, I entered our first class meeting with anxiety, knowing I would need to be open minded and rise to the challenges of the course material with a tenacious spirit.  The use of technology has been known to cause me grief more often than not but I know technology is engulfing our everyday lives and I best jump on for the ride if I am going to be competitive professionally and seek out the comforts of everyday life.

I have to admit that I was taken back by the simple concepts that were discussed in our first class meeting...Many 'gems' that I found to be refreshing and pleasant reminders that we are all striving to be better in all capacities of life.  The PITS process, Ego, Power, and Love, the 4 C's, Leadership, and Reflective Synthesis.

The comment that 'everything we do is emotionally based' caught me off guard because it was the last statement that I thought I would hear in a technology based class.  But as the class progressed, much of the 'gems' above were all surrounding human emotions and the sense of coming together for the greater good.  The 4 C's, for instance, speaks about the progression from 'command' to 'convenience' and how trust is built within an organization and/or between individuals.  Trust is described as consistent behavior overtime and I think in order for a leader to make room for the 'convenience' stage in his organization he needs to be able to trust and not fall back to micro-managing.

The conversation regarding reflective synthesis was very enlightening.  It is unfortunate that our schools are often caught up in the cycle of comprehension and knowledge but are often void of the application component.  Much of our reading this week talks about the hands-on dynamic and the idea of constructivism and the 'participatory-culture'.  Students, early on and throughout, need to be able to have some creative room to take pieces of information and apply it how they see fit.  The standards based education today has removed much of the creativity from the classroom...Leaving students with memorizing and rote learning.  With the use of technology, I would hope that more of our teachers and, ultimately lessons in school, become project based and constructive in nature.